Digital Creatures

Stick tank tracks to a ground surface

2011-05-06T16:48:00.004+01:00

Today I was asked how I did this setup, http://www.vimeo.com/7485166 .
Here is the basic idea behind it, say that you can use the transfer attributes in the mesh menu to project a ribbon like surface to the ground, and on that ribbon like surface you can have rivets with joints or clusters to deform the track curve. that's basically it.

Under Siege

2010-12-06T11:42:00.000Z

Hi all,

Under Siege is finally out, for those that don't know of it check out it's web page at http://www.undersiegegame.com

Here is the cinematic intro of the game done by Axis Animation, it was a very cool project to work on not only by the visual style but also because the client is a Portuguese company.

ZSketch 1

2010-05-28T01:42:00.000+01:00

Singularity Trailer

2010-05-08T17:10:00.003+01:00

Hi this is one of the last projects I worked on at Axis last year, it's finally online, check it out.

Link to HD version

How to Train Your Dragon

2010-04-21T11:36:00.000+01:00

What can I say, a movie about Dragons, it's awesome. Like Kung Fu Panda this movie feels very fresh and it has some clever humor, the animation is great, however, the fur work is just super, looks really really nice specially in the night shots.

Here is a link for the official Trailer

And of course it has dragons, lot's of cool, very well designed beasts.

Jack of all trades, master of none

2010-03-17T12:04:00.000Z

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Jack of all trades, master of none" is a figure of speech used in reference to a generalist: a person that is competent with many skills but is not outstanding in any particular one.

Ultimately, a Jack of all trades may be a master of integration, as such an individual knows enough from many learned trades and skills to be able to bring their disciplines together in a practical manner, and is not a specialist. Such a person is known as a polymath or a renaissance man; a typical example is someone like Leonardo da Vinci.

In 1612, the phrase appeared in the book "Essays and Characters of a Prison" by English writer Geffray Mynshul (Minshull) originally published in 1618, and probably based on the author's experience while held at Gray's Inn, London, when imprisoned for debt.[3] Mynshul uses only the first half of the phrase in the book, which indicates that the phrase was in common usage at the time he wrote his account.

The phrase is occasionally quoted in full as the rhyming verse

"Jack of all trades, master of none, though ofttimes better than master of one"

In North America, the phrase has been in use since 1721 typically in its shortened form.

The 'jack of all trades' part of the phrase was in common use during the 1600s and was generally used as a term of praise. 'Jack' in those days was a generic term for 'man'. Later the 'master of none' was added and the expression ceased to be very flattering. Today, the phrase used in its entirety generally describes a person whose knowledge, while covering a number of areas, is superficial in all of them, whilst when abbreviated as simply 'jack of all trades' is more ambiguous and the user's intention may vary, dependent on context.

Anatomy

2009-11-23T09:46:00.002Z

Hi,

Have been studying anatomy the last few days and obviously it is important to have loads of reference so here are a few good ones I found so far:

The Science Collection

Also the website of the artist Scott Eaton has loads of photo reference.

Cheers,
MacGio

Modeling as it should be

2009-10-07T09:46:00.002+01:00

Not that long ago I was a modeller, ZBrush was starting to become more and more popular right before version 2 came out and I remember that at the time it was super cool to add bump maps that easily, then with version 2 and more sculpting tools the madness started but still there was something not right, I mean, you could do your model from nothing in ZBrush without worrying that much with topology, but eventually you needed to deal with it and had to retopologize your model, a very tedious task only to find out that in the end you needed to go trough some scripts and workflows just to fit your new mesh to the sculpt bad, very bad way of work. These days with 3DCoat or TopoGun and the ability to project geometry in Zbrush those dark days are gone and finally you can sculpt your model without stressing with topology, and then retopologyse your model with really easy to use tools knowing that at the end it's a matter of pressing a button in order to transfer your detail on to the new mesh. That is the way it should be it's so much fast and fun. Gotta love progress :)

Turning point

2009-09-15T10:31:00.002+01:00

August was a month of changes, I left Axis Animation, with much sorry and started at Framestore in London, it's a huge difference of course, lets see how all this goes on.

Cheers,
Marco

ShowReel 2009

2009-06-17T13:27:00.002+01:00

Hi all,

Finally I did a showreel of my recent work. It kinda resumes the last 3 years.

Marco Godinho - ShowReel2009 from Marco Godinho on Vimeo.

Cheers,
Marco

Rogue warrior

2009-06-05T20:31:00.008+01:00

One of the last projects I worked on, Rogue Warrior, is out. On this project I had the opportunity to once again use the tools I developed to build rigs, I was responsible for rigging the characters and props. As a result, all the process went like a charm, the animators where happy with the rig and I was happy for having time to care about the deformations making it one of the best rig work I did at Axis.

Here is a link to the video in HD: link

Tread madness part2, 1st publish

2009-03-10T11:04:00.007Z

Hi,

Here is a link to download the Build Tread tool that I talked about in another post.
Quick guide:
Install:
place the script in the scripts folder
open or restart maya / or source the script file
use mgBuildTread(); to call the tool.

Usage:
- draw a curve or a circle in the scene
- place some geometry objects to use as segment templates(optional)
- freeze the curve and the geometry for the segments
- call the tool
- fill the fields "profile curve" and "control" you can use the curve as control
- add geometry to be copied if you use more than one object the tool will randomly place diferent segments on the curve(optional)
- drag the slider or type a number for the segments(int: you can drag and see how it is looking)
- if you changed your mind hit cancel it will delete the setup.

Tread tool demo from Marco Godinho on Vimeo.

Available in full resolution in macgio.com

Have fun.

cheers,
MacGio

Melbot

2009-03-01T13:14:00.004Z

Hi,

While organizing some old files I found this one, dammn I need to get back to this again :)

Melbot test from Marco Godinho on Vimeo.

Available in full resolution in macgio.com

cheers.

Tread madness

2009-02-26T12:09:00.010Z

Hi all,

Got some time off work (and "reuse" :P) in order to do some R&D on my own. I had some great time developing a set of tools in order to setup treads in seconds, here are some screen grabs, will post some videos soon.

This is an old way of doing it but It shows the ground contact rig, The next step is to implement this on this feature on the new tool.

Tank tracks from Marco Godinho on Vimeo.

Available in full resolution in macgio.com

cheers

Site update

2009-02-19T17:19:00.007Z

Hello,

Recently I have made some changes to my homepage, in the work section I added links and a short breakdown on works I worked on, also uploaded some rig video examples on the video gallery about vehicles.

check it out in macgio.com

Cheers

while($reuse){ if($reuse == $stagnation){$reuse=0;}}do(shite();)

2009-02-18T16:59:00.026Z

How I ended hating the word "reuse".

Talk at studio during dailies:
producer: We have this asset to setup...
artist: Looks cool :)
producer: hummmm, maybe it's "better" if we "reuse" this asset from a previous project, it looks like this one, with some "slight" changes to the look it could be done in a 3rd of the time :) isn't it fab? Would be great for the budget, could you take care of that?
artist: is there a choice :( ??

Reuse should be a good word, and it is, I mean, the conventional reuse, where the item is used again for the same function or where it is used for a new function.
Sounds like we could save money if we reuse. Sounds like we could save time if we reuse, and, in return, get more time for new stuff, stuff that is cool, fresh, stuff that brings new and exciting challenges, stuff of dreams, stuff of awesomeness, stuff that once was a powerful motivation, strong enough to lineup a person's life.

But in fact the time we could save is actually spent on patching old items, and then, we fall into the routine of reuse, until it becomes a cycle of constant patching, day after day, patching old items in the name of reuse, day after day, without coming up with solutions to new problems, without challenge, until, that same motivation goes away and in it's place this cycle leaves, stagnation.

And, well the save money thing, I'm pretty sure that if the time wasted patching it is the same or some times even more than doing it with a new approach, then, there is no gain at all in reuse, just an illusion of gain. Because, well, reuse is always thought as the the conventional reuse which implies using less; money, energy, patience, etc, etc, which is more tempting for most people that can only see the NEW as being time consuming and therefore expensive.

Of course if the item is done with all of this idea of being reused later on in mind the story would be different. But, these days who has time for doing this, or should I say, who has time assigned to do this. When time is money and planning is not taken seriously not even the best actions like reuse can be applied, it just doesn't work.

Zen dude, Zen.

Qt and PyQt

2008-11-25T11:17:00.004Z

Recently I have been looking at Ui building with Qt and using it in python with PyQt. After spending lots of time trying to get it compiled for 64bit now is time for fun.
Qt comes with a Designer suite that makes ui building a much more pleasing experience than building it by code as in MEL.

Here you can find the packages you need in order to install Qt and PyQt

Qt
http://trolltech.com/products

download Qt with the MinGW compiler included
http://trolltech.com/downloads/opensource/appdev/windows-cpp

PyQt
http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/software/pyqt/download

If you are looking into Qt just to use in Python go straight to the PyQt link(it comes with Qt Designer) unless you need a 64bit build, then you would need Qt as well.

Have fun with QT.

The storm is out

2008-11-25T10:05:00.004Z

Hi everyone,

One of the recent projects I worked on was MotorStorm Pacific Rift, this job pushed a lot from everyone. My contribution on this includes development of vehicle rigging tools, development of Houdini tools to generate crowds and background characters randomness and placement.

The vehicles on this project got a help from the Craft simulation tools that I got implemented on our rigs, they also included a new method for ground contacts that I developed using a freeware plug in for geometry shrink wrap.
The Crowds are an evolution from the previous crowd we did for the Race Driver One trailer. This time they were much more detailed so much that we used them as secondary characters. Again using Houdini to build tools to randomise the dressing and proportions of the characters.

It was a painful fun I would say. I'm glad the final result looks kick ass.

Here is the link

(not so) New work now online

2008-09-10T12:05:00.004+01:00

Hi, here is a link to an advert I worked on. Some of the creatures are great, I really enjoyed working on this project, it really goes straight to what I really like to do. I had the opportunity to use Comet muscle system to get some nice deformations and the end result is really nice.

Check it out Link

Flash Point is out

2008-08-01T23:21:00.008+01:00

Hi, here is the link to a new job I have been working on in the past months, fortunately this time I had to rig more than cars, great fun, helicopters, Gatlings and such, well apart from the amphibious vehicles with 8 wheels, those where a pain to implement with a dynamic rig. Anyway a few military vehicles to refresh a bit.

Link to HD version

XSI ICE Is this the coolest thing or what?

2008-03-20T00:25:00.005Z

Recently I have been drawling a lot because of ICE, Not because of the particle stuff but by the possibility of creating new deformers. Check out this demo.

http://www.softimage.com/products/xsi/ice/default.aspx

Unfortunately still have to wait for the demo release.

Time to learn a new tool, looks like Maya is on retirement stage :(.

Cheers
MacGio

doodle

2008-03-12T00:12:00.005Z

doodle

2008-03-09T22:51:00.003Z

Maya to ZBrush

2008-03-08T22:11:00.004Z

Hi all,

A few months ago I got the idea of sending a model composed of multiple objects from Maya to ZBrush without the hassle of export and name each object and in ZBrush import one at a time and then add them as subtools, again one at a time.
It's not that it takes a long time but all the export every object seperated and naming files then import one at a time as subtools.... naaaaaaa... that's why there is scripting, to make the machine work for us :)
So for that I created a Mel script that you can download from here mgExpObjsGrpToFolder.
In a base level it's just a handy *.obj exporter since it exports every object with the proper name in a selection Set and gives the name of the set to the folder where the *.objs will end up. Now the new thing is that it creates a little macro script to create a tool in ZBrush that contains all the objects as subtools with proper names and the same order. Unfortunately and since this is a first release it has some bugs, it only runs on windows and the interface in ZBrush isn't very elegant.
Planning to convert it to python in a next release.

Quick guide:
In Maya
Install

Make sure you have the objExport plug-in loaded.
Source the script "mgExpObjsGrpToFolder.mel" or make sure it's installed properly.

Usage

In Maya select your objects by the order you want say first head then body then legs, etc, etc ( this matters because in ZBrush the subtools will appear in this order)
Now, create a selection Set and name it correctly(this will be the name of the folder where the *.objs will end up)
Finally select the selection set you want to export and run mgExpObjsGrpToFolder;
A browse window will appear, select where the folder containing the *.objs should be created(don't select any path with spaces, its not supported at the moment)
After you select the folder and clicked "ok" a folder with the same name as the Set will be created and the objects will be exported.

In Zbrush

Go to the Zscript>Load button (or press CTRL+SHIFT+L)
From the browse window select the loadmacro.txt file that was created with the *.objs
A new button in the Tool menu will appear saying "import"+ the name of the Set you exported from Maya
Click on this button to create the tool
After this the tool is created and selected, you just need to draw it on the canvas an enter the edit mode

That's it!! Have fun :)

Cheers,
MacGio

Skeleton animation from Maya to Houdini

2008-03-05T13:14:00.006Z

Recently with the addition of FBX support in Houdini I started looking in ways to setup a skeleton and send animation from joints in Maya to bones in Houdini.

For this task I got some scripts and digital assets.
First a script to setup the imported skeleton in Houdini, because bones have a different way of transform than joints It needs a little setup to make animation go trough more easily. This script also creates and links the digital assets to handle the animation file.
mgSetUpSkel.py
To store the animation I choose to use a clip file clip files store not only animation but also channel names this way I could list just the channels I want automatically.
So to export this clip files I needed a clip writer I have done one using python so It could be used in different packages, unfortunately its calling a function to get the value of a channel in a given frame and this function uses functions that vary from application to application.
writeClipAnimFile.py